This just in from the American Adoption Congress and Pennsylvania Adoptee Rights (PAR):
Kim and Lorraine
HB 1978 pending in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives is an unrestricted bill that would allow adopted adults born in Pennsylvania to obtain a copy of their original birth certificate. If you have an adoption connection to Pennsylvania or are a resident of Pennsylvania – and you support this legislation – please send your name, address and email to choard@comcast.net so that you can be added to our database. As the bill progresses, we [the AAC] will keep you updated.For more information about this exciting development, see the Pennsylvania Adoptee Rights website: http://adopteerightspa.org/legislation.html The bill does not release any adoption records. From PAR's website:
What You Can Do:
As we learn more about the bill, we will keep you informed. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of adopted people in their country. Now is the time to get involved, whether you are adopted, relinquished a child, have adopted a child, or are simply a citizen with a good heart who lives in Pennsylvania and believes in justice. Without hearing from citizens, this bill will likely languish. Strength lies in numbers. Let it be your letter that tips the balance in favor of justice.
Meanwhile, over in neighboring Illinois an adoption bill so stinky that it reeks all across the country is being pushed by, of all things: adoptee Rep. Sara Feigenholtz. (Use link to let her know what you think.) Not only does it have a contact veto (but that must be applied for in a matter of months), it contains the noxious proposal to fine any triad member (that would be adoptees, and first mothers/first fathers and adoptive parents and all assorted relatives) who circumvent sealed records and locate adoptees' true blood relatives. The fine: as much as $10,000. If this had been in place in Wisconsin or New York, I would have been fined twice so far, perhaps sent to the pokey for flouting the laws--for finding a) my daughter, and b) one of her daughters. (The one pictured above I knew from birth.)
Read more at Why Adoption Reform Illinois opposes HB5428 and 73adoptee - adoption search, reunion and reform as well as The Daily Bastardette.--lorraine
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And if you haven't been here for a day, you might want to read the previous post at FirstMotherForum, A Sweet Decision May Foretell the Ending of Patents on our DNA
posted only last night.
Yay!! Finally! I'm a Pittsburgh girl and have waited so long to get something clean here! Thanks to Amanda and Priscilla for working hard to get the site set up. Come help us open up Pennsylvania!
ReplyDeleteGee, this is great :). I hope all PA residents will have Open Records. It'd be neat if the Adoptees Right's Protest there last year, influenced the consideration of this bill. I can't imagine anyone in Congress not being touched by Zara and DMC's incredibly beautiful I'm Legit either. That music can not help but haunt even the coldest hearts.
ReplyDeleteAnd P.S. Lorraine, your Grandaughter is beautiful! What a sweetie.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for posting this good news about the clean bill in PA, and also about our struggle in Illinois against HB 5428. Adoption Reform Illinois has a petition going at Change.org to oppose HB 5428 which not only further cements the Illinois CI program but also as you noted makes it a CRIME to pursue your own genealogy via non-ID. If this atrocity gets passed it could spell bad news for other states.
ReplyDeleteThe Change.org petition is here:
http://tinyurl.com/ILHB5428
Go Pennsylvania! I hope your bill gets passed!
Thank you Lorraine for posting this!
ReplyDeleteSo far the bill is very clean. It literally "directs traffic" right to the Vital Statistics Law so that Adult Adoptees recieve the same access to their OBCs for the same price and by the same method as every other citizen.
The current system is a hodge-podge of mistreatment. There is a Passive Mutual Consent Registry, however, when we talk about thousands of Pennsylvania Adult Adoptees essentially being without access to an OBC, it isn't necessarily because First Parents are denying them (we know from Open Access States that denial is very, very rate). It's because judges are denying Adult Adoptees and referring them to the registry and as you all know, Passive Registries have massive failure rates. Parents who don't know about the registry can't register. Parents who aren't saavy to the rediculous politics may not be able to figure out how to register. Parents who are deceased absolutely (and obviously) can't register. This leaves Adult Adoptees hanging! (and doesn't even begin to address their rights).
There's agreement that the system needs to be re-worked. Unfortunately, there is talk about disclosure/contact vetos among legislators and other concerned parties. We need to stop this in its tracks.
Bravo! Good deal - no extra crap added! I love it!
ReplyDeleteAmanda, let us know when we can start contacting anyone thinking of adding disclosure/contact vetos if you feel it appropriate.
ReplyDeleteI'm a moderator on PAAdoption Connection and have already has a couple of members write to ask when and who they can begin sending letters to.
So far, I've directing them to the website... but you're right. We need to stop anyone in their tracks if they are thinking that it makes for good law to add vetos.
Nice video! I hope the PA bill gets somewhere and is not amended to death. It looks like they are making a great effort.
ReplyDeleteThe Illinois bill is an abomination, yes, it stinks, and it should be stopped.
Thanks for bringing attention to both of these bills, the good in PA,the bad and very ugly in Il.